1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-forming apparatus and an image-forming method according to an electrophotographic process used for creating printed material such as newspapers, and also to a recording medium used for the apparatus and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, printed materials for publication, such as newspapers, are produced using printing machines. However, it has become increasingly common for electrophotographic image-forming apparatuses to be used in place of printing machines for producing printed materials. An advantage of using such an apparatus is that it is not necessary to prepare a block copy set. Accordingly, an electrophotographic image-forming process is particularly suited for use in producing small job lots of printed materials.
In an image-forming apparatus for use in an electrophotographic process it is preferable to employ a so-called tandem scheme, whereby an image forming unit for each of four colors: yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), is provided in series. To form images on each of two surfaces of a sheet, it is also preferable to provide a set of four such units for both a front and a rear surface of a sheet. Further, a front/back reversing device is preferably provided between the respective 4 front surface and 4 rear surface of image-forming units. A sheet suitable for use with such an image-forming apparatus is exemplarily a pin-less continuous sheet. The term “continuous sheet” is used herein to refer to a long sheet-type material which is fed sequentially from a roll on which the material is wound. Such a sheet may also commonly be referred to in the art as a roll sheet, a reel-fed sheet, or a web sheet.